Divided We Fall

Overcoming a History of Christian Disunity

Luder G. Whitlock Jr.

• Publisher: P Publishing
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781629953694
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Ecumenism & Interfaith

Whitlock explores God's desire for Christian unity—a true ecumenism. He overviews the history of Christianity, particularly its schisms and agreements, and points us toward the necessity of God-honoring fellowship.

1

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS

A divided church in the New Testament sense of the word “church”
is something illogical and incomprehensible—as illogical
and incomprehensible as human sin.
Lesslie Newbigin, The Reunion of the Church¹

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement
give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ
Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5, 6

THE TINY CHRISTIAN church birthed at Pentecost shortly after Jesus ascended has become a vast global presence of diverse nationalities, gifts, and organizational expressions. It has been remarkably adaptive and resilient. The myriad identities of churches and denominations can be confusing, however, especially in their relentless change, which prompts people to ask, “What is the church? What is its purpose? How is it supposed to function? Where should we begin to best understand it?”

Inevitably, the question of unity arises. People ask, “Why are there so many different churches and denominations? How can you justify all these divisions in the church? How did it happen? How can you decide which church is right for you?” These are reasonable concerns. If we ever hope to resolve them, we must begin at the beginning—with God.

The Triune God

The Triune God revealed in the Scriptures is the basis and model for the church and its unity. That is not to say that you cannot begin elsewhere, but any attempt to understand or achieve unity among believers that doesn’t begin with or ultimately find its basis in the doctrine of God is poorly grounded. In hindsight, it is now easy to see that John Calvin had the right idea when he began his Institutes of the Christian Religion with a treatise on the knowledge of God. He understood how foundational the doctrine of God is to all theological and biblical study. That is where all theological inquiry and the search for understanding must begin. For this reason, it makes good sense to consider the doctrine of God, and specifically the Trinity, as foundational to our understanding of the church and its unity.

Most Christians would agree that as our understanding of God is enlarged through a serious study of the Scriptures and a growing awareness of his work throughout human history, we gain a more accurate comprehension of our world, ourselves, and what God expects of us. A correlative intellectual and spiritual (or heart) awareness develops, giving us a sense of what is right. The same could be said regarding what God expects of the church and our place in it.

In reflecting on many years of ministry and observation of the church in its various ecclesiastical forms, I have frequently wondered why the Trinity, although so important, has been an oft-neglected key to rethinking ecclesiology.

Fortunately, during the twentieth century, a renewal of interest in the social significance of the Trinity has led to substantial theological research and writing, enriching the conversation about the church and its unity—particularly during the last half of the twentieth century. This interest in rebuilding spiritual communities—a reaction to the effects of social fragmentation that left people feeling alone or estranged—is understandable and has been a welcome development. The social or relational aspect of the church is often referred to as the “communion of saints” or “fellowship of believers.” That communion has its roots in the Trinity.

The initial pages of the Bible clearly reveal the existence of the one true God, who has eternally existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Although the word Trinity is never used in the Bible, the Trinitarian message is consistently relayed to the reader: God is one, yet God is also three (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14). It is important to emphasize that as three persons, God is a relational being in whom unity and diversity are perfectly blended. Augustine put it well: “Each is in each, all are in each, each is in all, all are in all, and all are one.”²

Not only does the Trinity give insight into the nature of God, it enables us to comprehend the significance of and the value of diversity in all human relationships. Because God exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we should quickly realize that he is just as much relational as he is sovereign, wise, just, or holy. Although it is not usually mentioned, the relational attribute of God deserves equal emphasis with his other frequently mentioned attributes. Although we cannot completely comprehend the profundity of the Trinitarian relationship, we may assert with confidence that God has eternally existed in an intimate, harmonious relationship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Tertullian was the first of the church fathers to use the word person to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.³ The doctrine of the Trinity was offered by the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, and the Council of Constantinople (a.d. 381). The latter explored it by stating: “There is one Godhead, Power and Substance of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; the dignity being equal, and the majesty being equal in three perfect essences and three perfect persons.”⁴

The Trinity is a triunity of intimate understanding, perfect love, and seamless functioning, as the three persons of the Godhead eternally relate to and exist in one another. Moreover, their personal identities are revealed in their reciprocal relationships. As would be expected, God’s relational perfection is revealed in this unity. This is significant for the church because as we grow spiritually, we are being remade in God’s image in many ways, including relationally. Relational factors, including our ability to work together harmoniously in spite of our differences, play a significant role when assessing our sanctification. You might say that the closer we are to God, the closer we should be to one another. This has, or should have, a direct bearing on the unity of the church; you would expect the unity of the Trinity to be expressed in the unity of the church.

It is also important to note the diversity revealed in the very nature of the Trinity, which does not come at the expense of unity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist as distinct and different persons with distinct and different responsibilities. This is consistently presented throughout the Bible. Herman Bavinck, aptly noting the diversity that existed prior to sin, says that this should lead us to conclude that it is “good and important also for the church.”⁵ Differences can enrich relationships; diversity enriches the church. By contrast, it is hard to imagine life in a universe of clones.

Given our inclination to think of God as detached and impersonal, this is a timely corrective. The nature of God makes me the person I am: a person influenced by love—or its absence. God is personal and loving, longsuffering and forgiving. He is known by his love because “God is love” (1 John 4:16). That love has always existed within the Trinity. As Jesus said to the Father, “you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24).

Love doesn’t happen in the abstract; it needs an object. It is impossible to love nothing. Love needs someone to love and someone by whom we can be loved. Companionship, therefore, is essential to God’s very nature because God is love. John’s Gospel reminds us of this eternal relationship: “the Word was with God” (John 1:1) and “at the Father’s side” (v. 18). Not only was the Word in the beginning and essential to the creation of the world, the Word was with God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were bonded together before the world came into existence.

Humans as Relational Beings

When you begin at the beginning—with Creation—the significance of the Trinity in the unity of the church becomes apparent. Let me explain how this is true. The first chapter of Genesis reveals that God created Adam and Eve in his image. In doing so, he created them as relational beings like himself. This becomes apparent in Genesis 2 as God observes Adam in the garden of Eden: “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). At first glance, this may appear to be a simple statement that Eve was needed for the human race to continue. While that is true, there is more to it.

This statement would not make any sense unless God wanted to call attention to the fact that Adam was a relational being made for love and companionship. Why else would he mention being alone as undesirable (v. 18)? There is nothing wrong with solitude or being alone. The problem was that permanent solitude did not fit Adam’s nature because Adam was a relational being, just like his creator. Adam was created not only for a relationship with God but for a relationship with someone like himself. Without that human companionship, he was an incomplete person.

This is why God created Eve as Adam’s soul mate, taken from his rib. They could share love and life together in the garden of Eden. Male and female, they were united as one (Gen. 2:24). Consequently, their Edenic experience mirrored the relational nature of the Triune God as they enjoyed a beautiful, harmonious relationship with him and with each other. It also provided a model for marriage and all other human relationships, because God gave them that responsibility as part of what is called the cultural mandate (1:26–28). As J. Richard Middleton observed, “Imaging God thus involves representing and perhaps extending in some way God’s rule on earth through the ordinary communal practice of human sociocultural life.”⁶

Adam and Eve’s subsequent disobedience—eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—profoundly marred God’s image in them. Little did they realize how much would change if they disobeyed. The ramifications were huge, injecting alienation and misery into all human existence. Adam and Eve were jarringly expelled from Eden, and the idyllic relationship they had shared with God and with each other evaporated. Banned from Eden in shame and disgrace, they and their progeny faced an unexpected life of hardship and misery.

As bad as that was, the immediate effect of this dramatic reversal of relationships marked the advent of the destructive human relationships that would result from sin. From that moment, hostility, enmity, and various divisive forces became a constant irritant and threat to human life on earth. As an example, not long after God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden, their son Cain murdered his brother Abel: a painful, unintended consequence of their sin. These torments multiplied swiftly among the expanding human race.

Sin in its various forms divides and destroys. Misery and pain are its companions. Prejudice, deceit, manipulation, and anger become its weapons. Looking back to what happened in Eden, we now realize that alienation, estrangement, loneliness, and all other forms of flawed and broken relationships find their origin in that first sin of Adam and Eve. The rest of the Bible is an unfolding commentary about the damage that sin inflicts on human relationships. God offered a remedy to Adam and Eve in clothing them with skins to cover their nakedness and shame, which required the shedding of blood: a harbinger of the gospel. God also promised that one of their descendants would crush the head of the serpent, although the serpent would wound him in the heel in that confrontation (Gen. 3:15).

We acknowledge the hunger for companionship and intimacy that remains an endemic part of human nature. People are by nature relational. The inner desire to belong emanates from this. In spite of repeated wounds and disappointments, an underlying desire for satisfying, fulfilling relationships continues to nest in the human heart. This desire is not only the foundation for marriage, family, and friendships but also the basis for groups and communities of every kind, including work relationships, childhood friendships, and club memberships. After their playing days are over, athletes often nostalgically reminisce, concluding that the part they miss most is the camaraderie, the locker room.

The good news is that through the gospel, God offers a way of escape as an alternative to our broken, sinful world. According to his redemptive plan, God is remaking into his image all who trust in Christ. Though it is a slow process, he rebuilds the relational dimension of life as part of that process, providing an opportunity for the believer to experience the fulfilling joy and lasting reward of redemptive community. Close relationships that weather the storms of life, imparting good feelings and fond memories, are irreplaceable.

This gives clarity to the gospel. Christ came to end the hurt, enmity, and estrangement caused by Adam’s sin. To accomplish that, he became despised and rejected, suffering God’s punishment of sin during his crucifixion so that we could be forgiven and accepted into his family. Although he cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” on the cross (Matt. 27:46), his promise to those of us who believe is that we will never be forsaken (Heb. 13:5). We are reminded that he was killed outside the gate so that we can come inside to be with the Father (v. 12).

When we come to faith in Christ, we join those whose names are written in the Book of Life. Not only are our sins forgiven, our relationship with God is restored. We become part of his family. It is critical to understand that not only forensic but relational reconciliation is integral to our salvation. When our relationship with God is restored, our relationships with people will inevitably be transformed. Through faith in Christ we experience an innate desire, as part of his family, to repair relationships and form new ones by reaching out to one another (Gal. 3:28–29).

This puts into perspective the well-known hymn,

Blessed be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love:
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

We should expect to encounter happy, wholesome, enriching relationships among believers through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, just as we expect to experience it within marriage and family. If our relationship with God enables us to establish wholesome, flourishing relationships, it should translate into our marriage and family and then to all other relationships in the church as well as in business and the community. The radical change in Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge as a consequence of his dreams is the type of change that should occur among believers, dramatically affecting all relationships for the better and giving life a new glow. The transformation may be gradual or swift, but it will come; and when it comes, it will have a beneficial effect on those who are touched by it.

Theologian John Owen (1616–83) said that our communion with God consists of his communication of himself to us and our reciprocal response flowing from the union we have with him in Christ.⁷ We love him because he first loved us. This translates into our relationships with others. But it doesn’t happen overnight, as is obvious from experience. By contrast, alienation and division, wherever they appear, are warning signs of spiritual deficiencies. Disagreements, anger, hostility, and estrangement are rooted in sin, and they are a persistent plague. The inevitable outcome, even among churches, is that relationships are constantly damaged and torn by deceitfulness, mean-spiritedness, and other bad behavior. Worse still, some days discord seems more prevalent among Christians andtheir churches than in secular organizations. It shouldn’t happen that way, but believers are sinners too. Some Christians are less spiritually mature and especially vulnerable.

If there were no sin, all relationships would be idyllic. It will be that way in heaven, but that’s not the way life is now. However, we are not excused from our responsibility to maximize relationships to the best of our abilities. Right now, if we truly are in Christ, we must do our utmost to bring love, healing, and hope to all relationships. This is our spiritual obligation. Any less cannot be justified. The degree to which we cause rifts or divisions de...